Just a quick note: This article includes spoilers for the ending of Deathloop, so if you don’t want to know what happens in the game’s ending, stop reading here. This little shout-out to Dishonored comes at the very end of the game, and there’s no way to talk about it without also spoiling how the player comes to see them, so just be aware that this article is about a very late-game story moment in Deathloop, and if you don’t want to know about it, you should click away now. Here’s the big Dishonored shout-out in Deathloop.
While both Dishonored and Deathloop are developed by Arkane and are FPSes with some mysterious powers, they haven’t been suggested to be set in the same universe up to now. However, in the final stretch of the game, Julianna confronts Colt and shows him a set of “dueling pistols” in a box. These pistols look very similar to the flintlock pistols that Corvo Attano uses in the Dishonored game, and the box also resembles one that players can find at Lady Boyle’s party if they choose to duel Lord Shaw.
There are a number of clues besides the visual ones that indicate this isn’t just a coincidental similarity. Julianna describes them as having the “original oil cartridges,” and the pistols in Dishonored fire bullets via the detonation of small oil cartridges. She also calls them “museum pieces.” This isn’t just an Easter egg, either. The pistols are a pivotal item for the game’s ending, as Colt will have to shoot Julianna with them and then himself in order to break the time loop.
Given how important these pistols are, and how Julianna describes them, it’s possible that Deathloop takes place in the same universe as Dishonored, a distant future sequel to the original game. It’d certainly be interesting to see how the world of Dishonored turned out after the events of Death of the Outsider.